


When the World Ends

by Wanderer (Straggler)



Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Gen, Hospitals, Other, Post Beach, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-06
Updated: 2012-03-06
Packaged: 2017-11-01 13:34:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/357378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Straggler/pseuds/Wanderer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>We want things we can't have.</p><p> </p><p>If Peace can’t be an option for Erik, then it can’t be one for anybody else.</p>
            </blockquote>





	When the World Ends

**Author's Note:**

> For Suloisin, for feeding those thoughts that continue to plague almost all of us concerning these two men. It's not much, when you compare it with our comments that border on turning into essays, but I hope it's enough.

 

By the time they manage to get Charles into a hospital, infections have already set into his bloodstream and he’s already fallen deeply into a harsh fever. Moira, for all her authority and capability, could not make the doctors and nurses work faster, not when the government has already given them strict orders not to aid and assist the terrorists more than necessary.

 

Charles is struggling, physically and mentally. His shields are at an all-time low and every little jostle and movement makes pain shoot up his spine until his vision blurs and he cries out in agony. His head hurts – a constant stomping that’s coupled with a vicious twisting stab – and he can’t separate the thoughts from the whispers and the shouting to people actually speaking. Everything is hazy and distorted and he can’t _think_ or breathe or feel anything but pain.

 

He’s long given up on trying to feel his legs; it’s a useless endeavor. What’s important right now is just trying to rein everything in, make order out of his chaotic mind and stop his powers from leaking all over the place.

 

The nurses can’t do more than to staunch the bleeding as he lies on his stomach on the stretcher – they won’t even clean it – and the doctors refuse to give medicine, not when they don’t know _what_ they’re dealing with.

 

‘He’s in _pain_!’ Moira nearly shouts as the doctor continues to shake his head and withhold the drugs that might’ve helped Charles keep his head afloat.

 

‘He’s not _human_ ;’ he says in a frightened whisper that damn near condemns him. ‘I can’t give him something that could wrongly affect him.’

 

 _I don’t want to give him something that will make him stronger_ , is what the man thinks, and what Charles can hear and another hoarse cry leaves his throat in a stutter as he once again thinks of Raven and Erik and of yesterday.

 

His face is wet, and he can’t tell if it’s because he’s sweating profusely, or if he’s bleeding somewhere along his temple or if he’s crying. He wants to go back to yesterday, where everything was not simpler, not easier, but where he hasn’t yet committed his biggest mistakes that he’ll forever regret. He’s lost his legs, but the two things that cripple him the most are that Raven and Erik are no longer by his side. He wants—

 

‘Doctor, _doctor_ , he’s crashing!’

 

Moira is beside him in an instant, one hand holding onto his desperately while another is beside his face, forcing his head away from the sheets to make his eyes to focus on hers. ‘Stay with me, Charles, please.’

 

_Raven, I’m so sorry. Raven, come back; I need you. Raven, please. Raven._

 

She shakes her head while tears gather in her own eyes as she watches him take one shuddering breath after another through the tremors of his body. ‘She’s not here. I’m sorry, Charles.’

 

He can’t tell if it’s because he’s been talking out loud and not in his head or if it’s because he’s been accidentally projecting his thoughts. With his sudden lack of control, it’s entirely possible that it’s both. His throat feels parched and he wonders if it’s because he’s been shouting in agony since they’ve first left the beach.

 

_I’m so tired. I’m so tired._

 

 He can feel his strength leave him; fatigue clawing at the edges of his consciousness. He wonders when he closed his eyes, because instead of the hospital’s bright light, all he sees is darkness.

 

Moira is digging her gloved fingertips into the back of his hand but it’s not enough to make him stay afloat of everything anymore.

 

When he opens his eyes, he feels blinded. He thinks it’s better if he keeps them closed, but he doesn’t.

 

The doctors and nurses are keeping a careful and wary distance. So much for the Hippocratic Oath; what good is it if they refuse to lend a healing hand to a man in need?

 

_No; not a man in their eyes._

 

He can still hear a cacophony of noise surrounding him, but it’s no longer his priority; he just wants to sleep. He wants—

 

\--

 

By the time they manage to get to the hospital, it’s already too late. There’s a still figure beneath a blood-splattered sheet and when the covers are lifted, all they see is a pale figure with sweaty brown curls stuck to his forehead.

 

His eyes are still open, blue and bright.

 

Raven is weeping beside the stretcher, and Angel, despite having left him for another, also cries for the first man to give her more than just a future, but hope as well. Now that’s gone, too.

 

Erik can feel more than he can see when bits and pieces of metal around them begin to warp into distorted shapes. He can feel them cower and tremble where they stand, and he can hear them groan and cry – a mimic of his stunted emotions.

 

Erik wants to tear the building apart, uncaring if he’ll end up killing hundreds of people, young and old.

 

He can’t hear anything beneath the crying of women and the rushing of his blood. He hears silence, and no, it’s not because of the helmet.

 

He doesn’t feel anything and he half-wonders if perhaps Charles took his soul with him when he died. He wants it back. He wants—

 

\--

 

_My friend…_

 

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, it’s not that I like having Charles constantly die or anything, it’s just that…I want Erik and Raven to know how much of a mistake they’re making by choosing to leave Charles behind. I mean, for God’s sake! THEY’VE GOT A TELEPORTER! It would’ve been nice if they had, at the very least, helped Charles to a hospital first, but no! They just left him behind.
> 
> Guh…


End file.
